


Green Carnations and Violets

by allfloodedwiththedawn



Category: Enola Holmes (2020)
Genre: Coming Out, Dialogue Heavy, Friendship, Gay Character, Gen, One Shot, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, enola is ???, mlm wlw solidarity!!, tewkesbury is gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26889574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allfloodedwiththedawn/pseuds/allfloodedwiththedawn
Summary: She laughed then, even though he wasn’t terribly funny. And then, because she felt like it, and because the sun was shining so brightly, she said: “You know I’ve fallen in love with you.”He sat up suddenly and stared at her. The posy behind his ear fell out. “What?”She felt the color rise in her cheeks. “You don’t have to sound so offended.”“Enola,” he said, in a very distressed tone, “We’re friends!”
Relationships: Enola Holmes & Viscount "Tewky" Tewksbury
Comments: 7
Kudos: 110





	Green Carnations and Violets

**Author's Note:**

> bonus points if you know where i got the title

She was spending the week at Basilweather. The sun was shining brightly in the garden and the sky was a perfect blue, and Tewkesbury was weaving her a garland of flowers. He lay with his head in her lap: she absently stroked his hair with one hand and sketched with the other. They were unselfconscious in a way they never could have been a year ago: months of quiet meetings for coffee and poetry and then excursions to the countryside had made them quite comfortable with each other.

“I’m finished,” she said suddenly.

“Good, so am I.” 

They exchanged objects: Enola settled the flower crown over her loose hair and Tewkesbury scrutinized the caricature.

“Is this supposed to be me? You’ve made me ridiculous! And don’t laugh. I look like a girl.”

“Your hair was that long when I met you.”

“Yes, well, I’m a young gentleman now,” he said with wounded dignity.

She laughed then, even though he wasn’t terribly funny. And then, because she felt like it, and because the sun was shining so brightly, she said: “You know I’ve fallen in love with you.”

He sat up suddenly and stared at her. The posy behind his ear fell out. “What?”

She felt the color rise in her cheeks. “You don’t have to sound so offended,”

“Enola,” he said, in a very distressed tone, “We’re friends!”

“Well, yes. Of course. But I thought it was sort of obvious we were more.” Tewkesbury’s distressed expression didn’t change, and she added angrily, “I wasn’t prepared to justify myself! I thought you’d just say it back.”

He began to respond, but a horrible sense of embarrassment was rising in her now, on top of the familiar sharp irritation Tewkesbury so often provoked, and she rushed out the words before she could regret speaking. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone else, Tewkesbury. I care about you, and it makes me so happy to see you, and I miss you when you’re gone, and I like when you bring me flowers, and we kissed three months ago, so you don’t get to tell me I’m making it up.”

“Of course not! But we’re friends. We’re best friends. We’ve risked our lives for each other, haven’t we? But I bring you flowers because I like flowers and because they make you happy, not because I’m courting you. And I didn’t get the impression that you liked the kiss very much,”

“Maybe you’re not a very good kisser, Tewkesbury. It isn’t essential to romance.”  
“Look, Enola. I want you to listen to me and not interrupt, because it’s important that you hear this. You are not in love with me. If you were, it wouldn’t work, anyway. But what you’re feeling is friendship. You and I both didn’t really have a lot of friends growing up, or people we could be comfortable around. And when we found each other, we convinced ourselves it was romance because we didn’t want to lose that friendship. But we don’t have to be in love to, you know.” He blushed.

“Finish that sentence, idiot, or I’ll slap you.”

He gulped. “To love each other. As friends.”

There was a long pause. “You may be right,” she conceded with great dignity. “I had not considered it that way before.”

“Besides, do you really want to be courting? Kissing and getting married and having children together? Or do you just want to enjoy each other’s company and have each other’s backs?”

“To have each other’s backs is what counts, I suppose. You’re right. No sense adding the courting business.” She realized that, beneath the embarrassment and irritation, she had a greater sense of relief: this was, perhaps, what she wanted after all.

“Can I lay my head in your lap again? It was nice.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

Tewkesbury seemed content to let the subject drop there. Enola was not. She may not have been very experienced, but she had had a year in the world, and had read a large quantity of romance novels from the library. She knew that when a boy and girl were as close as she and Tewkesbury were, it was because they were in love. And she knew that giving each other flower crowns and taking little picnics in gardens were typically romantic excursions.

“What do you mean, it wouldn’t work, anyway?” she said slowly, after quite some time.

Tewkesbury opened his eyes. “Well, I thought it was obvious.”

“Obviously not.”

He opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, and shut it again. “I’m not quite sure how to say this,” he said. 

“Try,” she said grumpily.

“Well, you do remember when I said you looked better in breeches?”

“Vaguely.”

“Well. I meant it. I did like you, briefly, when we first met. And then I realized you weren’t a boy, remember?”

She stared at him. “You liked me as a boy but not as a girl?”

He nodded, and shut his eyes again lazily. “Does that disturb you?”

“No, of course not,” she said. “I’m just learning a lot of new things today.”

“I rather thought you were the same way,” said Tewkesbury, his eyes still shut. “Thought that was why we were like this. Didn’t realize you thought we were really courting.”

“I am the same way, silly, I do like boys,” she said. “And why did you kiss me if you thought we weren’t courting?”

He had opened his eyes again. “No, I- well, at the time I was in the process of realizing a lot of things and it just seemed like the thing to do. Sorry if I led you on, Enola. Really. But I meant the same way as in you like girls,”

“I find girls very irritating, Tewkesbury. I’ve told you about my time at the finishing school. They were terrible.”

“Enola, are you being deliberately obtuse?”

“Ask me that again and I’ll tell your mother we’re engaged and to start planning the wedding.”

“You wouldn’t dare. Anyway, Enola, I meant in a sapphic sense.”

“Oh.”

“Because, you know, you dress like a boy a lot. And you don’t like feminine things, like flowers and embroidery and good posture.”

“Nobody in their right mind would like embroidery and good posture- oh. But you do.”

“Exactly.”

“You may be right, Tewkesbury. I’m glad that we are best friends, and nothing else.” 

He nodded. “Are you going to do anything about it?”

“About what?”

“About the girls.”

She considered. “Well, I’m not really sure how I feel. It’s a bit of a mystery to me.” 

Tewkesbury smiled up at her charmingly. “Good thing you’re a detective.”


End file.
